Name: Melons in Vinegar
Ingredients: small green melons; vinegar; syrup

Why it works: Melon and vinegar work together. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 416 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Melons in Vinegar

Ingredients

small green melons
vinegar
syrup

Directions

Cut small green melons from the hard rind and slice them.
Soak the slices in vinegar for 10 days.
Simmer the slices in the vinegar until tender.
Transfer the slices to syrup for 6 to 7 days.
Store in fresh vinegar until ready to serve, which will be in about a month.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Melon + vinegartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together416 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Melon + syruptop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Vinegar + syruptop 29% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together385 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).